Traditional airships, which may also referred to as blimps, aerostats, dirigibles, or lighter-than-air vehicles/platforms, comprise numerous components that are necessary for the navigational and operational needs of the airship. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, a typical prior art airship 10 comprises a gas impervious envelope 12 that is formed from a flexible laminate material or fabric that is made to withstand the pressure changes encountered by the airship 10 during ascent and descent, as well as, heat and solar radiation that are encountered during the airship's operation. An exemplary laminate material used by the airship 10 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,979,479, which is incorporated herein by reference. Within the envelope 12 reside various discrete regions that separately contain helium and air, which allow the airship 10 to be effectively controlled during ascent and descent.
To allow the airship 10 to ascend to altitude, the air containing regions are exhausted through a number of valves 16 disposed about the perimeter of the airship 10. The helium within the envelope 12 expands while the airship 10 ascends to the desired altitude. It will be appreciated that expansion of the helium also forces air out of air containing regions through the blowers maintained by the airship. In order to descend the airship 10 from altitude, air is forced back into each air containing region by operation of one or more blowers 18. In order to maneuver or navigate the airship 10 while in flight or during ascent and descent, a propulsion system is utilized. The propulsion system typically comprises a plurality of electrically powered propeller units 20 mounted externally to the envelope 12 is utilized.
A significant amount of electrical power is required to operate the valves 16, blowers 18 and propeller units 20, and any other electrical component aboard the airship 10. Indeed, a significant amount of electrical power is required upon descent of the airship, as the buoyancy of the helium lifting gas is overcome.
Thus, to meet the energy demands required by the valves 16, blowers 18, and propeller units 20, numerous batteries, solar panels, and/or fuel cells have been used as power sources aboard the airship 10. While these systems are adequate from an energy capacity standpoint, complex and bulky power management systems are required to process the power delivered thereby. For example, approximately 4,000 lbs. of batteries may be needed to fully power the airship 10 during its descent from altitude. As such, the weight contributed by the batteries and other existing energy sources currently utilized by airships negatively impacts the maneuverability of the airship 10, its ability to attain desired altitudes and traveling ranges, as well as its overall performance.
In addition to the significant weight added to the airship 10 by the batteries, a substantial expense is also incurred to maintain, charge, and periodically replace failed batteries to ensure that the airship 10 has the optimal power capacity to complete a decent after a launch.
It will be appreciated that one of the main advantages of high-altitude airships is that they can carry monitoring equipment that can observe any surface or air activity underneath the airship. Accordingly, any monitoring device that is relatively lightweight and that can be carried by the airship provides an additional advantage to the airship.
Thus, there is a need for a power reception and imaging system for an airship that reduces the overall weight of the airship. In addition, there is a need for a power reception and imaging system that reduces the need for batteries, or other energy storage devices of finite capacity. Furthermore, there is a need for a power reception system and imaging system that receives continuous energy from a ground station to the airship, so as to power the airship during all phases of flight, including descent. Still yet, there is a need for a power reception and imaging system that provides a phased array antenna system that generates a focused energy beam for receipt by the airship. Further, there is a need for a power reception and imaging system that utilizes a nanofiber patch rectenna maintained by the airship to receive the transmitted energy beam. Additionally, there is a need for a power reception and imaging system that utilizes a lightweight matched filter, allowing the energy received from the patch rectenna to be efficiently retrieved from a transmitted energy beam. Furthermore, there is a need for a power transmission and imaging system that receives power at a frequency capable of passing through the envelope of the airship. In addition, there is a need for a power reception and imaging system that provides a ground station that generates and transmits a steered energy beam that is periodically realigned with the patch rectenna so as to ensure consistent alignment of the energy beam with the airship. Moreover, there is a need for a ground station used with a power reception and imaging system that utilizes a LADAR (laser detection and ranging) system or other efficient, narrow beam, high frequency transmission system to transmit an energy beam to the patch rectenna to power the airship during all phases of flight, including descent. Finally, there is a need for a dual-use system that integrates both energy reception functions with various imaging functions maintained by the airship.